Before the injuries hit, Mark Mulder was having a great career

Mark Mulder announced his retirement earlier this week without much fanfare, making official what has been assumed since he sat out all of last season following disastrous stints with the Cardinals in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Mulder won 16 games with a 3.64 ERA as a 27-year-old in 2005, but then injuries hit and he won just six more games while posting a 7.73 ERA in 106 innings and was finished at age 30.
Because of how poorly and prematurely Mulder’s career ended it’s easy to forget just how good he was before all the health problems. Looking at all left-handed pitchers since the mound was lowered in 1969, he ranks tied for sixth with 97 wins through the age of 27:

THROUGH AGE 27      W
Vida Blue         124
F. Valenzuela     118
CC Sabathia       117
Don Gullet        109
Frank Tanana      106
MARK MULDER        97
Mark Buehrle       97
Tom Glavine        95
Jerry Reuss        95
Ross Grimsley      87

Interestingly, his former “Big Three” rotation-mate Barry Zito ranks 11th with 85 wins through age 27.
Decades from now when people stumble across Mulder’s stats and see just 103 wins they probably won’t give him much thought, but he was one of the most successful early career lefties in baseball history and would probably be a 31-year-old with around 175 wins right now if not for the injuries.

The Mets have acquired right-handed reliever Brooks Pounders from the Indians for cash considerations, the teams reported Saturday. Despite his limited and varied major-league experience, Pounders has put up intriguing numbers at the Triple-A level and is expected to step into a not-insignificant role with the Mets’ relief corps.

Pounders, 28, signed a minor-league deal with the Indians last December and pitched to a healthy 2.31 ERA, 2.8 BB/8, and 11.8 SO/9 over his first 35 innings in Cleveland’s farm system. He hasn’t taken the mound in a major-league setting since 2018, however, when he appeared in 14 games with the Rockies and labored through a much more unsightly 7.63 ERA, 1.2 BB/9, and 10.0 SO/9 across 15 1/3 frames. Still, his peripherals are promising, and there’s no question the Mets could use some help bolstering a bullpen that currently ranks eighth-worst in the league with a collective 5.31 ERA and 0.2 fWAR.

In subsequent roster moves, fellow righty Tyler Bashlor was sent back to Triple-A Syracuse for the second time this season, while Héctor Santiago was designated for assignment, Tim Peterson was optioned to Triple-A, and Chris Flexen was recalled from Triple-A. It’s been a less-than-ideal campaign for Bashlor so far this year: through 13 relief appearances for the club, he lost control of a bloated 5.23 ERA, 5.4 BB/9, and 9.3 SO/9 in 11 2/3 innings and had not been utilized in a game since June 2.